1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle outside-mirror unit including a lamp unit.
2) Description of the Related Art
The vehicle outside-mirror unit including a lamp unit of this type includes, for example, ones described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-19519, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-362222, and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,695,465B2.
The vehicle outside-mirror unit including the lamp unit includes a mirror housing having a window and a lamp unit provided in the mirror housing with a lamp lens arranged at the window.
In the vehicle outside-mirror unit including the lamp unit, when a light source such as a light emitting diode (LED) provided in the lamp housing of the lamp unit is turned on and light is emitted, the light from the light source such as LED is irradiated outside through the lamp lens. As a result, the lamp lens arranged at the window of the mirror housing emits light. The lamp unit used for the vehicle outside-mirror unit is for emitting ornamental light or realizing a turn lamp function such as a signal lamp, or both.
However, the lamp unit used for the vehicle outside-mirror unit is a direct irradiating type lamp unit in which the light from the light source, such as LED, is directly irradiated from the lamp lens to the outside. One of the vehicle outside-mirror units uses a lamp unit having a reflector, but even this type of lamp unit is the direct irradiating type lamp unit in which most of the light from the light source, such as LED, is irradiated directly from the lamp lens to the outside. Therefore, the vehicle outside-mirror unit including the conventional lamp unit has problems in view of appearance such that the LED as the light source makes a dot light emission, when the direct irradiating type lamp unit is turned on, and the light is glaring and dazzling hard light. Further, the vehicle outside-mirror unit including the conventional lamp unit has a problem in view of appearance such that when the direct irradiating type lamp unit is turned off, the light source such as LED itself is visible from the outside through the lamp lens.